Outside of a couple of heavy hitters, 2022 was quite slow and modest for gaming. For the most part it was all about the biggest news stories and acquisitions rather than the most widely acclaimed releases. Re-releases were quite popular this year from Destroy All Humans Reprobed to Alan Wake Remastered. Hidden among the many releases were more unique titles like Ghostwire Tokyo and Stray which both achieved strong cult followings. For good and ill, here are my picks for the year in video games.
Games That Came And Went With Low Impact
3rd: CrossfireX
Despite a hefty marketing campaign, this modern military shooter didn’t make much of an impression on Xbox consoles. The market remains very crowded and most FPS fans were more excited for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II later in the year.
2nd: Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Extraction
This horror-themed spin-off was one of the only major releases from Ubisoft this year. Despite the novelty of battling a hostile alien force, the company’s expansion into alternative genres will have to do more to impress.
1st: Horizon: Forbidden West
Much like its predecessor, Sony made the poor decision to put out Horizon Forbidden West at the same time as a massive juggernaut. Going up against Elden Ring, this high profile PlayStation exclusive was left in the dust by many.
Biggest Gaming Casualties
3rd: 343 Industries and Halo
In spite of continued success within the Master Chief Collection, the Halo franchise took a beating this year with a weak live service output for Halo Infinite and a poorly received TV series from Paramount that butchered the source material.
2nd: Square Enix
Several poor decisions were made by Square Enix this year, the worst being the sale of Tomb Raider, Deus Ex and other properties to the Embracer Group. Attempting to buy into the NFT scam is sure to cost them dearly.
1st: Google Stadia
After months of failure, Google’s Stadia platform was terminated in 2022 with a full shutdown coming in January 2023, dumping both gamers and associated developers in the process. This effort into cloud streaming was a waste of everyone’s time and money.
Most Disappointing Game
3rd: New Tales From the Borderlands
Arriving many years after Telltale’s cult classic, the New Tales From the Borderlands was a massive let-down. The writing, story and characters have all taken massive steps backwards, missing the charming charisma of the original by a mile.
2nd: Bayonetta 3
After many years of waiting, Bayonetta 3 wasn’t a bad game, but is widely considered the weakest of the trilogy. Many creative choices with the story and new characters undermined the otherwise entertaining combat.
1st: The Calisto Protocol
Instead of delivering the Dead Space successor we had all been waiting for, The Calisto Protocol was a unanimous disappointment. Striking Distance Studios is now in danger of being upstaged by the very publisher they escaped with the upcoming Dead Space remake.
Best And Worst Industry Trends
Best: The Resurgence of Handheld Gaming Systems
The ninth console generation remains slow, but hardware has pushed forward in other ways, most notably on the handheld front. Some took inspiration from the Nintendo Switch, such as the Steam Deck, which offered portable PC gameplay on a grand scale. Other efforts were more experimental such as the crank-powered PlayDate device and the A500 mini delivering pint-sized versions of classic games. The PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X may be lagging, but other smaller-scale builds have picked up the slack.
Worst: The War for Company Ownership
Acquisitions are a contentious area in the video game industry and 2022 seemed to pack in more deals than ever before. Embracer Group and TenCent snapped up many companies throughout the year alongside Sony acquiring Bungie. But by far the biggest deal in gaming in history was Microsoft’s pending purchase of Activision-Blizzard for a whopping 69 billion dollars. In any case, it’s rare to see a business deal that benefits the consumer and these moves should be closely scrutinised to avoid any Disney-style monopolisation.
Weakest Company Performance
3rd: Gearbox Software
Gearbox haven’t done themselves any favours in recent years; their retreat from the heights of AAA development was put on full display this year with the let-downs of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands and New Tales From The Borderlands.
2nd: Blizzard Entertainment
Continuing on from their terrible behaviour last year, Activision Blizzard are now actively hounding those who call out their rotten workplace culture alongside doubling down on awful microtransactions one moment and putting out lazy sequels the next.
1st: Volition Inc
The architect of their own downfall, Volition reached their lowest point yet this year thanks to the Saint’s Row reboot. The days of creating titles like Red Faction: Guerrilla are long gone, replaced by a dev team with no clear direction or focus.
Worst Games Of The Year
3rd: Diablo Immortal
As entertaining as it can be at first, Diablo Immortal quickly reveals its true colours, manipulating and coaxing fans into spending more money to progress their characters and unlock more loot. It’s a relentless, predatory mobile game with few redeeming features.
2nd: Gotham Knights
A planned live service release that desperately tried to course-correct after its contemporaries flopped. Gotham Knight offers none of the thrills from the Batman Arkham franchise and strings players along with tepid mission design and sloppy technical details.
1st: Saint’s Row
A terribly written and utterly generic open world title, one that completely forgets what made the series so popular and strips away every last drop of wacky personality. More than any other poor title, this one felt especially insulting.
Best Games Of The Year
3rd: Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
The Nintendo-Ubisoft partnership resulted in another solid strategy game. Sparks of Hope greatly expands on the original with new settings, character abilities and tactical options. It’s another great payoff for an unconventional formula.
2nd: God Of War Ragnarok
A superb sequel and a fitting conclusion for the Norse saga. The way Kratos and his teenage son Atreus deal with the end of the world creates the best story of any game this year. On top of that, its sheer scale and detailed craftsmanship remains unmatched.
1st: Elden Ring
FromSoftware’s biggest hit to date skilfully evolves the SoulsBorne formula, setting a new standard for open world titles while maintaining the same brutal challenge of its forebears. Most other big-name releases had little chance of matching Elden Ring.
While 2022 was a slow year, the next is certainly shaping up to be much bigger; Resident Evil 4 Remake, Hogwarts Legacy, Spider-Man 2, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Street Fighter 6 and many others are set to arrive in 2023, see you there...
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